To the memory of my dear wife
The Severed Tress

Tis all that now is left of one once fair
No morning light! And shall we never press
That lovely brow, so radient in life;
Where oft our life hath sealed its fondest point?
Oh! Shall that pulseless heart, so crushed and cold,
Ne'er echo back to ours, one gust of joy,
To soothe its anguish? Ah loved one "no more"!
The dark [?] answered back__ "No more! no more!"
The spirit of the misty tomb sings up,
Above thy buried breast! The snowy folds
That shroud thy peaceful brow, so pure & fair,
Alone shall press it now? And that young cheek,
Rose-tinted with co an unknown place or in life, whose oft our own,
Hath beamed in smiling gladness, years agone,
How changed! how still it sleeps on Death's cold breast!
Ah! when the gushing drops of Love full fount,
Surcharged the eye of bye gone halcyon house,
We said "Farewell!" _ _ _ Hope whispered _ _ _ " not for aye;"
But ah! the severed tress comes sighing on,
And whispers lovely [?]' our distant home.
"Ye said farewell, we meet on earth no more"!
Sweet Spirit gone! beautiful in Light!
We mourn thee not as those of Hope bereft,
The golden chain that twined a wreath of hearts,
Death hath not given. Thou hast but borne it up
And linked our hearts with Heaven Thou God of Love!
We kiss thy chastening god & prove thy Truth,
She was thine own, we give her back to Thee,
Nor murmur at Thy will. Eternal One!
Drop down one beam from thy spirit world,
To soothe his breast, whose heart thy Hand hath crushed!
Oh! Stamp the signet of thy matchless Love
Upon a brow that ne'er shall know on Earth,
The press of that soft hand, so still in death,
And when thy Angel messenger Shall come,
To hush the music of Life's melody,
Oh! may we, on celestial pinions, rise,
To clasp our loved one, in the tearless skies!

John A Hanks